Venu Sports, the sports streaming venture from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, will debut this fall with a price of $42.99, according to an announcement on Thursday.
Sports fans will be able to try out Venu with a seven-day free trial. This introductory price will be locked in for subscribers for 12 months from the time of sign-up.
Venu Sports aims to capture both customers who have ditched their cable and satellite plans or never had one. It is a joint venture by ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
The launch of Venu Sports comes at a time when traditional cable TV is increasingly being supplanted by streaming services. The number of U.S. households getting their TV content from an internet connection increased by more than 210% over the past five years, according to a January report from Nielsen.
Venu will feature live games and events from major professional leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, and Division I college football and basketball. Additionally, Venu will offer 14 live sports channels, such as ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and truTV. Access to ESPN+ is also included.
“We’re building Venu from the ground up for fans who want seamless access to watch the sports they love, and we will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord-cutter and cord-never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages,” Pete Distad, CEO of Venu Sports said in Thursday’s announcement.
Venu Coverage Across Cable Sports Networks
Venu Sports is expected to encompass about 55% of U.S. sports rights, according to Citi analysts cited by The Wall Street Journal.
Venu Sports is planning a launch in the U.S. in the fall, but the company did not specify an exact date with Thursday’s announcement. Thursday’s announcement gave a further breakdown of live sports that will be included in the service.
NFL fans can look forward to over 120 regular season games, Wild Card and Divisional round playoff games, the NFC Championship game, and Super Bowl LIX in February 2025. The service will also feature Monday Night Football with Peyton & Eli, and FOX NFL Kickoff and FOX NFL Sunday.
There will be 165 regular season NBA games, plus extensive postseason coverage including the NBA Finals. College sports fans will have access to games from top conferences such as the SEC, ACC, Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12, along with the College Football Playoffs and March Madness.
Other sports covered by Venu include MLB with over 700 regular season games and full postseason coverage, NHL with over 1,200 regular season games and all postseason games, Grand Slam tennis tournaments, championship golf, combat sports like UFC and Bellator, and major motorsport events including all Formula 1 races and NASCAR’s Daytona 500.
Venu’s On-Demand Library: 30 for 30 and ESPN+ Originals Shows
In addition to live sports, Venu Sports will offer a robust library of on-demand content. Subscribers can enjoy ESPN’s 30 for 30 library, ESPN+ Originals, ESPN Films, and documentary programming from Fox Sports Films.
The service will also feature iconic sports studio shows such as ESPN’s SportsCenter, First Take, and College GameDay, FOX’s NFL Sunday, and TNT’s Inside the NBA.
Pre-launch challenges
The rollout of Venu Sports is not without its challenges. The NBA recently signed a new 11-year deal worth $77 billion with NBCUniversal, ESPN and Amazon.
TNT was initially seen as a key network for adding its NBA games to Venu. However, the new 11-year deal essentially ends TNT’s decades-long partnership with the NBA.
The new NBA deal goes into effect after the 2024-25 season. Warner Bros. Discovery, which operates TNT under Turner Sports, has filed suit against the NBA to secure rights that were awarded to Amazon.
Meanwhile, a New York court is set to hear a preliminary injunction in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Fubo against Venu’s partners. Fubo claims that the startup would eliminate competition in the marketplace for sports licensing and streaming.
The hearing is scheduled for August 7, and the outcome could impact Venu’s launch plans.
What’s next for Venu?
Assuming Venu Sports launches this fall, it will enter an already crowded field of live TV streaming services.
YouTube TV, priced at $72.99 per month, is currently the most popular live TV streamer with more than 6.5 million subscribers, according to 2023 estimates by Leichtman Research Group Inc. YouTube TV carries the same channels offered by Venu as part of its 100-channel base plan.
But a growing number of American TV viewers are relying on more than just streaming for live TV.
According to Nielsen’s TV universe estimates, nearly 23 million U.S. households access free TV programming using TV antennas, which falls outside the realm of big data measurement.
Approximately 92% of TV households, regardless of classification, watched some form of linear programming between October 2022 and October 2023.
Nielsen also reports that as of November 2023, more than 18% of U.S. TV households had at least one TV set enabled to receive free, broadcast programming using an antenna. Many of these households supplement their OTA access with streaming services.
